168 Proclamation of the Prince of Orange, &e. At the same time the following was published in Dutch and French :"William, by the Grace of God, Pince of Orange Nassau, Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands :- "To the People of Belgium greeting. "Europe owes its deliverance to the magnanimity of the allied sovereigns-soon it will owe to their wisdom a political system, which will ensure to agitated nations long years of prosperity and repose. "The new destination of your beautfiul provinces is a necessary part of this system; and the negociations which are going to be opened at Vienna, will have for their object to have it recognised, and consolidate the extension of Belgium on a basis conforma ble to your interests, to that of your neighbours, and of all Europe. "Called to the government of your country for the short interval which still separates us from the future so long desired, I come among you with the wish of being useful to you-with all the sentiments of a friend-of a father. I desire to be assisted by the most enlightened, the most respected among you, in the honourable task assigned me by the confidence of the allied monarchs, and of which I hasten to acquit myself in person. "To put an end to the evils which still bear heavy upon Belgium, notwithstanding the firm, wise, and liberal conduct of Baron de Vincent in the difficult times in which he has exercised the office of governor-general; to honour and protect your religion; to give the nobility the splendour due to its merit; to encourage agriculture, commerce, and all branches of industry; these will be my most delightful duties, the objects of my most in cessant care. "Happy if, in multiplying my claims to your esteem, I shall succeed in preparing and facilitating the union which is to fix your destiny, and which will permit my love to make no difference between you and that people, whom nature herself seems to have destined to form with Belgium one powerful and prosperous state. "Given at Brussels, 1st August. (Signed) "A. R. FALCK." Though the occupation is thus avowedly provisional, yet from the whole tenor of these documents, there can be no doubt that this valuable acquisition will be eventually confirmed at the approaching congress. Agreeably to an article of the late treaty of peace, by which the squadron at Antwerp was to be divided between France and Holland, seven ships of the line and a brig were given up on the 5th of August to the commissioners of the allied powers, and hoisted the Orange flag. GERMANY. [Sept. 1, It would be absurd to speculate upoa the rumours of the changes which various parts of Germany are destined to undergo, or the pretended symptoms of disharmony between our three great allies, respecting the partition of the Saxon dominions. It seems, however, to be taken for granted that the greater part of the latter will be divided among the neighbouring states. The reason assigned for this severe treatment of the unfortunate monarch, who, even if restored to the possession of all his former power, could not possibly be an object of jealousy or apprehension, is, that he unnecessarily betrayed to Buonaparte the plan of operations adopted by the allies, and communicated to him by the Emperor Fraucis during his visit to Bohemia at the time of the armistice. The definitive arrangement of all these matters must be left to the congress of Vienna, which most, if not all of the German princes will attend in per son. Meanwhile Austria has once more taken possession of the Tyrol, ceded to her by Bavaria, which has received the grand duchy of Wurzburg in lieu of that loyal and unfortunate province, SWITZERLAND. The new Swiss constitution appears to have excited great dissatisfaction in the powerful canton of Berne. A proclamation issued by its chief magistrate on the 15th July states the reasons of its rejection of the new federal pact. The Bernese complain of the erection of the Pays de Vaud and Argovia, formerly subject to them, into independent cantons; whilst the Vaudois are determined against submission, and the people of Argovia would rush to arms rather than acknowledge the authority of Berne. It is a fatality attendant on republican institutions, that when their citizens have no external enemy to fear or op pose, they become the prey of internal dissensions, and fall to cutting the throats of one another. Without powerful foreign mediation, there is every reason to apprehend that the petty squabbles of these petty states will terminate in bloodshed. ITALY. The fine provinces of this peninsula arc yet very unsettled, and such is the want of a vigorous government, from the uncertainty which still prevails respecting the destiny of some of them, that the whole coast, from Nice to Naples, is described as being in the posses sion of banditti. In Piedmont also the 1814.] Affairs of Italy and Spain. 169 number of robbers armed and regularly thus proving his gratitude to the suborganized is said to amount to 3700. jects, whose exertions preserved for him that sceptre, which he now employs to crush every thing like freedom of thought, and independence of sentiment, does not neglect the opportunity of striking a blow at those foreigners, to whose generous support he is equally indebted. Among the reasons assigned by him for the restoration of the Holy Office, he mentions the introduction of dangerous opinions, partly by "the sojournment in Spain of foreign troops of different sects, almost all infected with sentiments of hatred against our religion." The pope, who since his return to his capital has been assiduously engaged in restoring things to their former footing, has remonstrated against the continued occupation of the legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, by Austria, on the one hand, and of Ancona and Urbino by Naples on the other. Murat, however, who has lately become a most devout Catholic, doubtless from the same motive which led his imperial brother-in-law to profess himself a Mussulman, is assembling an army of 20,000 men for the alleged purpose of some grand manoeuvres, but more probably with a view to retain the spoil which political circumstances have enabled him to seize. We shall not be surprised, if, like the dog in the fable, by grasping at what does not belong to him, this pupil of the Corsican school should lose what he before possessed. King Ferdinand, who some time since resigned the government of Sicily to his son, resumed the reins in the beginning of July, and has totally changed the administration. Lucien Buonaparte has been created a Roman prince, and Duke of Musignano, by the Pope. His mother is gone to visit the new dominions of her son, Napoleon; while Joseph has purchased a fine estate in Switzerland, near the Lake of Geneva. SPAIN. The accounts from this country continue to present a deplorable picture of the unsettled state of affairs; but as no journal, except the Madrid Gazette, is allowed to circulate, it is very difficult to form any conjecture on the true state of facts. The order for the apprehension and execution of General Elio, captaingeneral of Valencia, alluded to in our last, has been disclaimed by King Ferdinand, as a forgery; and a reward of 10,000 dollars is offered for the discovery of the author. Similar orders were sent at the same time to put to death the Conde de Labisbal, and Don Juan Maria de Villavicencio, the governors of Seville and Cadiz; but the imposition was fortunately detected before it was too late. We have no sort of clue to enable us to determine, whether this plot originated in the intrigues of persons surrounding the king, or in the vindictive spirit of the opposite party. By a royal decree of the 21st of July, the Inquisition was formally re-established. The beloved Ferdinand, while Meanwhile the persecutions and troubles which distract the peninsula have induced many persons of distinction to emigrate to Italy. Some of these are rallying round the person of Charles IV. at Rome, whom some accounts have already represented as reclaiming the Spanish crown, and declaring his supposed abdication to be a forgery and imposition. A violent tumult, in which the most favourable disposition was manifested to support the pretensions of the exiled monarch, is said to have taken place at Barcelona, and to have been quelled only by the interference of a large body of troops with artillery. SWEDEN AND NORWAY. The correspondence between the commissioners of the Allied Powers and King Christian has been made public. These commissioners arrived at Christiania on the 30th of June; some days afterwards they had an audience of his Majesty; and on the 7th of July they presented their first note, in which they state, that, "the Allied Sovereigns consider the union of Norway to Sweden as one of the bases of the new system of equilibrium,-as a branch of indemnities which it is impossible to replace by any other." They intimate, that to compel subinission to this measure, "the army of General Count Bennigsen, as well as a corps of Prussian troops, have been placed at the disposal of Sweden, and the general blockade of Norway has been resolved upon, in common concert with Great Britain." Prince had represented his readiness to surrender into the hands of the Diet, the authority with which the nation had invested him, the envoys signify their acquiescence in a truce, for the purpose of convoking the Diet, on condition that the Swedish troops shall be put in possession of the fortresses of Frede As the 170 Transactions in Norway-America. [Sept. 1, derickstadt, Frederick shall, and Kongs- another by his Swedish Majesty; but vinger; and that the country between the Swedish frontier and the river Glommen, be evacuated by the Swedish troops. The Prince, in his answer, insists on the right of Norway, when released from its engagements with Denmark, to form itself into an independent state; and observes, that he founded his hopes on the acquiescence of the great powers in such an arrangement "on the application in its favour of the same principles in support of which such generous efforts had been lavished in Germany and Spain." He acknowledges it "to be his duty to make known to the nation the dangers to which it is exposed, and to represent the advantages which must be secured to it, on its acceding to a constitutional union with Sweden," but adds, that "faithful to his engagements, he will never separate his fate from that of Norway, in the event of a brave though useless resistance against the united forces of Europe, being preferred to an honourable reconciliation." He agrees to the evacuation of the district above mentioned, and also of Frederickstein and Frederickstadt, by the Norwegian troops; but not to their occupation by the Swedes, whose entrance, he says, would be the signal for a general rising of the people. He then insists that the blockade of the coast should be generally raised during the truce, and not partially, as proposed by the commissioners. A letter from the Prince to the King of Sweden, breathes the same spirit, and expresses the same determination. The envoys, in their answer, declare that the concessions demanded as the basis of the union, are not compensated by any advantages afforded by the proposed armistice, and that they are there fore compelled to rest the success of their negociation upon the generosity of the King of Sweden. This reply was dated July 15th, the envoys had their audience of leave on the 17th, and the same day returned towards Sweden. The most active preparations were meanwhile made by the Swedish monarch, to enforce the letter of the bond. An army of 40,000 men was assembled at Gottenburgh, where Bernadotte arrived, on the 19th of July, to take the command, while the Russians, under Bennigsen, kept advancing into Holstein, to overawe Denmark. A proclamation, addressed to the Norwegians, was issued by the Prince Royal, and these could not be expected to produce much effect. Military operations accordingly commenced on the 26th of July, by the advance of the Swedish flotilla, under Admiral Puke, against that of Norway, stationed near the Hualoerne Islands, off the entrance to the port of Frederickstadt. The Norwegian commander is said, in the Swedish accounts, to have evacuated his position in the night, and the enemy, in consequence, took possession of the islands on the following day, AMERICA. In this distant quarter, the British arms have again sustained a reverse, but unaccompanied with dishonour. The Americans having landed in great force on the Niagara frontier, reduced Fort Erie by capitulation, on the 3d of July. On the 5th, they advanced, to the number of 6000, for the purpose of attacking Major gen. Riall, who, with 1500 regulars, some militia and Indians, had taken post at Chippewa, waiting for reinforcements; but that officer, gallantly anticipated the intention of the enemy, whom he attacked in the position which they had taken at Street's Creek. After an action, highly creditable to the small British force engaged, the general was obliged to retire to Chippewa, after sustaining a loss of about 500, in killed, wounded, and missing. Up to the last accounts, the enemy had not attempted to advance in this direction. As many of the reinforcements from Bordeaux have reached Quebec, it is to be hoped that their arrival will spee dily give a new turn to operations in this quarter. Along the coast of the Atlantic, great alarm has been excited by the spirit of our dashing seamen, who have destroyed the shipping in various harbours, and done considerable mischief to the enemy on shore, at different places where they have landed. An expedition fitted out at Bermuda, has taken possession, without opposition, of the Moose Island, and the other islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy belonging by right to the government of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia ; but where, through inattention on our part, the Americans had been suffered to establish themselves. Our re-occupa tion of these islands will deprive them of the facility of carrying on an extensive illicit traffic, and tend to keep the Bay of Fundy free from their priva teers. 1814.] Jubilee in celebration of the Peace. The republicans are straining every nerve to strengthen their navy. The Independence, of 74 guns, has been launched at Charlestown, the Guerriere frigate at Philadelphia, and the Mohawk of 50 guns at Sackett's Harbour, on Lake Ontario, where the American squadron, under Commodore Chauncey, is waiting for a reinforcement of seamen. The gailant Sir James Yeo has resigned, from ill health, the command of the British naval force in that quarter. On the 28th of March, the U. S. frigate, Essex, was taken, after a severe action, by the Phoebe and Cherub, in attempting to escape with a smaller ressel, from the port of Valparaiso, in Chili, where they had been for a considerable time block-d up by the British 171 ships. The loss on our side was trifling, that of the Essex very severe. Unfortu nately for the gallant captors, the enemy had landed two millions of dollars at Valparaiso before they started. The Rattlesnake, of 18 guns, the fleetest sailing sloop in the American navy, on her return from a cruise in the British seas, became a prize to the Le ander frigate, on the 11th of July. The British and American envoys have met at Ghent, and had some conferences; in consequence of which, the latter have sent home for further instructions. The departure of Lord Hill is probably deferred till it shall be seen what turn these negociations are likely to take. INCIDENTS, PROMOTIONS, BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, DEATHS, &c. IN LONDON AND MIDDLESEX; With Biographical Accounts of Distinguished Characters. THE 1st of August, being the centenary of the accession of the illustrious house of Brunswick to the British throne, and the anniversary of the glorious victory of the Nile, was selected (as mentioned in our last) for the grand jubilee in celebration of the peace. A smart shower which fell in the forenoon seemed to have fallen only to lay the dust and refresh the air; and the discharge of the Park guns about 12 o'clock announced the fete. The population of the metropolis and the whole surrounding country then poured into the parks, the scene of the amusements provided for the occasion. The lawn of St. James's-park and the Bird cagewalk were reserved exclusively for those who to avoid the pressure of the crowd chose to purchase tickets at 10s. 6d. each. The amount thus raised will, it is understood, be appropriated to some great national charity. Over the canal in the middle of this park was thrown a beautiful Chinese bridge, on the centre of which was constructed an elegant and lefty pagoda, consisting of seven pyramidical stories. This edifice, with various smaller temples and columns on the bridge, was destined for the display of brilliant fire-works and illumina tions The whole margin of the lawn was surrounded with booths and tents for refreshments, and rooms for dancing, while the canal was covered with boats. At the southeast angle of the Green-park was erected a castle, the ramparts of which were about 100 feet square, surmounted by a round tower in the centre, about 60 feet in diameter, and rising to the total height of about 90 feet. Opposite to this temple, along the wall of York House-gardens, was a gallery lined with crimson, capable of containing about 1000 persons, and at that end next to St. James's park was a box of a circular form, elegantly fitted up for the reception of the royal family. T ese erections, and also a bridge constructed across the carriage way up Constitution-hill, for the accommodation of the royal family in passing from Buckingham House to their box, were adorned with suitable inscriptions, and the names of those great naval and military characters who, during the late war, have raised the glory of Britain to a height which it had never before attained. The rest of the Green-park was open to the public, as was also Hyde-park, which, from the number of booths for refreshments, theatres, shows of all kinds, swings, &c. exhibited the appearance of a vast fair. The first object of attraction was a balloon, placed on the lawn in front of the queen's house, in which Mr. Sadler, jun. and Mrs. Johnstone, the actress, were to have ascended; but the cords that connected the car with the netting having become somewhat deranged during the operation of filling, and rendered the attempt extremely hazardous, the lady reluctantly submitted to be left behind. Not long before six in the evening the machine ascended in a most majestic manner, and remained in sight of the immense multitude of spectators about half an hour. The voyage, as had been foreseen, was attended with no small danger. From the breaking of part of the netting, the aëronaut had reason to apprehend the escape of the body of the machine through the aperture, and was therefore obliged to secure it by twisting the lower end round his arm; and when he wished to descend, the valve was either frozen, or out of order, so that he was under the necessity of making 172 Murder of Miss Welchman. an incision, which precipitated his descent [Sept. 1, killed by the fall; the other was a carpenter, who, forcing his way down the stairs, was so burned that he expired next day. The fire-works continued till twelve o'clock; a discharge of cannon then enveloped the castle in the Green-park in so thick a smoke that no part of it was visible to the innumerable spectators, and when this obstruction cleared away, it burst upon them me tamorphosed into the Temple of Concord, most brilliantly illuminated, adorned with allegorical devices and paintings by the first artists, and revolving upon its centre, so that every part was alternately presented to the admiring multitude. It is impossible for any description to do justice to the magnificence of this scene, which terminated the public amusements of the festival. In justice to those by whom they were planned, it must be observed, that so carefully had the safety of the public been consulted in all the arrangements, that the few accidents which are known to have happened among the prodigious crowds assembled on the joyful occasion were the effects of temerity or indiscretion in the sufferers themselves. It was at first believed that the tents, booths, stalls, &c in the parks would be suffered to remain till the birth-day of the Prince Regent; but after some opposition on the part of their tenants, which required the interference of the police, they were all removed on the 8th. The temple in the Green park still continued in its original state, and a report having been generally circulated that it would be illuminated on the night of the 12th, an immense concourse of persons from all parts of the metropolis thronged to the place; but finding that there was no such intention, some of them, in their disappointment, tore down the rails, which they set on fire, demolished sentryboxes, and would have probably proceeded to further acts of violence, but for the arrival of a detachment of the military, who soon put an end to these riotous proceedings. In the night of August 4, Miss Mary Anne Welchman, assistant to a dress-maker in Mount-street, was assassinated by a ruf fian named James Mitchell, who had for some time past pretended to pay his addresses to her. The fate of this young woman, who is described as having been twenty-four years of age, of a handsome person, amiable manners, and exemplary conduct, will, we trust, afford a salutary warning to other females against forming hasty connexions with persons of whom they have no previous knowledge. The first meeting of Miss Welchman with her murderer, who is reported to have several wives living, and who introduced himself to her as the purser of a ship, was accidental; he afterwards visited her by her consent, but she was dissuaded by her brother from continuing to countenance his courtship. It is supposed, |